Anti-semitism in Austria is Now As Strong As Under the Nazis, Jewish Leader Charges

October 3, 1945

Vienna (Oct. 2)

The charge that anti-Semitism is as strong in Austria now as it was under the Nazis despite attempts to camouflage its strength, was made today by Aaron Ehrlich, president of the Jewish Merchants’ Association here.

Ehrlich accused Leopold Kunschak, a leader of the Austrian People’s Party, of having delivered anti-Semitic speeches. He complained the Nazis still held posts in public offices, including city hall, and controlled the granting of licenses, the issuance of citizenship papers and the allocation of apartments.

Ehrlich also asserted that 70 per-cent of all food concerns, 80 per-cent of the clothing concerns and the Vienna chamber of commerce were in Nazi hands. Inmates of concentration camps here, he said, found themselves discriminated against if they had been imprisoned on racial instead of political grounds.

The Jewish leader said he had brought these facts to the attention of Chancellor Karl Renner and Gen. Koerner, burgomeister of Vienna, as well as other officials. The Austrian government, however, is apparently powerless to remedy the situation, Ehrlich added, and it is noumbent on the Allied occupation officials to intervene.